The American Hockey League announced today that Mark Van Guilder was named Milwaukee’s 2011-2012 IOA/American Speciality AHL Man of the Year Award winner for his outstanding contributions to his community during the course of the season.

Some of the highlights of Van Guilder’s charity work are his active role in “Reading: The Ultimate Power Play,” tutoring a student by helping with his reading and writing skills, serving as a celebrity waiter for Prevent Blindless of Wisconsin’s annual fundraiser and in the Admirals’ Celebrity Serve for the Power-Play Foundation, visiting the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and helping out delivering turkey dinners for local needy families.

All that on top of playing in 62 games to date for the Admirals, scoring 12 goals and 13 assists while holding a plus seven rating. Van Guilder shines in his role as one of the team’s top penalty killers and faceoff specialists.

The fourth-year professional from Burnsville, Minnesota is one of 30 finalists for the AHL’s Yanick Dupre Memorial Award. Another notable on the list is former Admiral Darren Haydar of Chicago.

Certainly the nomination is well-deserved for Van Guilder as a player who means a lot to both his team and his community. Read my feature story on his efforts on MilwaukeeAdmirals.com.

So Roundtable . . . What are some of your favorite Mark Van Guilder stories, or highlights from his on ice efforts?